While the actual update process is relatively uncomplicated, the process to revert it back to stock firmware can be quite nerve-stretching. I rely heavily on the experiences and descriptions provided by users in the android-hilfe.de board.

If you are on Windows, you will need the ADB drivers from the Huawei Hi Suite (currently unavailable, possible mirror here)

If you are on Windows, you will need the fastboot tool for communication with the bootloader

If you are on Linux or Mac OS, you just need the Android SDK. These OS do not require an additional ADB driver or the fastboot utility

As I want to restore to my last installed firmware, I will need the firmware version C167B012. This is actually quite tricky to find on the internet. The download links from the android-hilfe.de board are not available anymore, but someone found a mirror. This update is the stock firmware, that comes with MediaPads available in Germany. This older version is required for reenabling the OTA (Over The Air) update feature provided by Huawei. The linked archive file also contains the necessary bootloader image boot.img

The current (V100R002C002B008)ICS beta firmware is available here. See the first post for possible download mirrors.

We have now all necessary tools and files that are required for the firmware update. Be aware that flashing beta firmware will void your warranty! Flashing the firmware will also delete anything that is stored on the internal memory of the device. If you rely on saved games or preferences, you will have to use tools like Titanium Backup to secure all necessary files. You have been warned!

How to flash the ICS Beta:

Extract the downloaded archive with the ICS Beta

Copy the „dload“ folder untouched to the root of your MicroSD card.

Shut down the MediaPad

Boot the MediaPad with pressed power button and pressed volume down button.

The MediaPad will now boot into the firmware update mode and you will see a green Android with a progress bar

Wait for the update until you get a note to remove out the MicroSD card

Remove the MicroSD card

My MediaPad restarted at this point, so it wasn’t necessary to hold the power button for 10 seconds as the note said

You are now on ICS, complete the setup like you are used to

You can now insert the MicroSD card back again. Use Androids file explorer or any other tool to delete the „dload“ folder. Otherwise you will start another update process next time you restart with the MicroSD card inserted.

As you can see, the update was quite simple and straight forwarded. The tricky part comes when you want Honeycomb (3.2) back on your device with OTA enabled:

How to return to stock HC from ICS beta:

Connect your MediaPad to your computer

Install the ADB driver, if you are under Windows. For other OS install the Android SDK

Copy the C167B012 Honeycomb firmware to your MicroSD card. It’s again the „dload“ folder, which you should put on your MicroSD card into the root folder

Reboot the MediaPad with inserted MicroSD card.

The green Android robot and the progressbar should appear

Follow the instructions and remove the MicroSD card, then reboot

You are back in Honeycomb. However, your bootloader is still the one from the ICS beta, so you cannot install any OTA update yet

Wait for the device to boot up, it will install some of the Huawei OEM apps.

Skip the registration and setup process

Enable the USB debugging feature

Copy the boot.img file to the folder where you installed fastboot. On Windows, this will be the folder where you extracted the fastboot file I’ve linked earlier. On Mac OS, you will have to go to your android SDK folder and put it into the platform-tools folder

Start fastboot: Open in Windows a console and change to the folder with fastboot in it. Execute „fastboot flash boot Boot.img“ and press return. On Mac OS go to the platform-tools folder and execute „./fastbook flash boot Boot.img“

You will see the message „< waiting for device >“

Shutdown the MediaPad and connect it with the USB cable, if you removed it previously

Boot the MediaPad into the Fastboot mode: Press the volume down button followed by the power button.

If the MediaPad vibrates, release the power button, but keep the volume down button pressed

You will see a notice on the screen that the MediaPad is Entering the fastboot mode